John Mulderig

Capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television as well as notes on TV programming for the same week.

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” (20th Century), the third film in the always visually rich franchise that got its start in 2009, brings forward thematic elements that had previously been kept in the background and that viewers of faith will find it impossible to accept and difficult to dismiss. As a result, it requires careful evaluation by mature movie fans.

Clues and conundrums aren’t the only things that need to be sorted through in the murder mystery “Wake Up Dead Man” (Netflix). An equivocal, though ultimately positive, portrayal of faith marks this third film in the “Knives Out” franchise that began in 2019.

Capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television as well as notes on TV programming for the same week.

Movies with a Christmas theme abound but ones that focus on Thanksgiving are rarer. Still, a handful of notable films have incorporated the November holiday into their plots.

With “Wicked: For Good” (Universal), director Jon M. Chu concludes his two-part adaptation of Stephen Schwartz’s hit Broadway musical in the same luxuriant style with which he began it in 2024. Like its predecessor, moreover, the film is mostly free of objectionable content.